The DeKalb County commission voted Tuesday to formally oppose certain tax incentives offered by local cities.
The resolution spearheaded by Commissioner Jeff Rader says the county will perform cost-benefit analyses on tax abatements that local municipalities offer to developers — and makes it a policy for the county to file legal opposition when it determines a deal would result in the county getting less money than it needs to provide services to the finished project and its tenants or residents.
“Obviously every economic incentive or tax incentive is not outside of the public interest,” Rader said during Tuesday’s commission meeting. “What we're simply trying to do is identify those that do not meet that test and try to suppress them.”
Rader’s resolution was largely inspired by one type of deal being offered by local cities, whose decisions don’t need the approval of the county or its school district but can have a significant impact on their tax collections.
Rader previously pointed to an agreement orchestrated by the city of Doraville's development authority, which offered $19 million in tax abatements to a developer who agreed to spend at least $50 million on an apartment project that will replace an aging shopping center.
The deal means DeKalb County and its school system will not collect property taxes on the development for as long as 20 years — while the city’s development authority will pocket annual “administrative payments” totalling more than $3.5 million.
When Rader introduced his measure last month, Doraville Mayor Joseph Geierman pushed back on the criticism.
“We are at a point today where it is hard to spark new development without offering some kind of tax incentive to developers,” he said at the time. “Counties and their cities can argue back and forth about whether or not this is a good practice, but we ultimately need to play by the rules that have been set at the state level.”
Under Georgia law, counties cannot veto abatements or other incentives offered by cities. The legal challenge called for in Rader’s resolution would likely come during the bond validation stage, when a judge must sign off on the proposed financing arrangement.
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